"Ding~ Congratutions on killing the [Dark Dragon Emperor Iguno] (Level 255, 255-star Super Divine Rank BOSS) with pyers [Mu Chen] and [Ruo X, earning 280 billion EXP!"

  As the system notification sounded in his ears, the massive body of the Dark Dragon Emperor Iguno crashed down from the sky, unwillingly falling before Zhang Yi.

  Bending down to pick up a golden scroll fragment from the mountain of loot dropped beside the BOSS's corpse, Zhang Yi excimed excitedly, "The st piece, finally complete!"

  Saying this, he opened his inventory and took out the other eight identical scroll fragments. Zhang Yi combined the nine fragments, forming a complete golden scroll in his hands!

  "Ding~ Congratutions on obtaining the 255-star Super Divine Artifact [Dragon Blood Scroll]!"

  Gazing excitedly at the scroll he had painstakingly acquired, Zhang Yi had just turned around when suddenly, "pfft," a sharp sword pierced through his chest.

  His smile froze instantly as Zhang Yi looked at Mu Chen, who held the sword that ran through his body, with disbelief all over his face: "Mu Chen, you..."

  "Sorry, brother, I'll take care of the Dragon Blood Scroll and Ruo Ruo for you." With that, Mu Chen pulled the blood-stained sword from Zhang Yi's body, and alongside him, a girl in a white mage robe, Ruo Xi, calmly watched as Zhang Yi colpsed to the ground with a thud.

  "Ding~ You have been attacked by pyer [Mu Chen]'s [Critical Ssh] skill, losing 32.68 million HP. The system detects you have no remaining revival chances, you are dead!"

  With the final system notification, Zhang Yi, lying in a pool of blood, gradually closed his eyes.

  Mu Chen crouched down, intending to pick up the Dragon Blood Scroll clutched in Zhang Yi's hand, only to see the scroll, soaked in Zhang Yi's blood, transform into golden light and merge into Zhang Yi's body. Then, Zhang Yi's body turned into a white light and disappeared!

  "How could this happen!"

  Mu Chen stared in shock at the bloodstain left on the ground, utterly dumbfounded...

  ***

  In a rented room in Linhai City, a young man suddenly sat up in bed.

  "Mu Chen, Ruo Ruo, why did you betray me!"

  Zhang Yi let out a roar of unwillingness and anger, then noticed the surroundings seemed a bit off.

  "Where... is this?"

  Zhang Yi paused, quickly getting out of bed, and looked around the familiar yet strange small rented room.

  Wasn't this the pce he rented after graduating and starting work?!

  Realizing something, he turned to the calendar on the bedside table, which showed the date: August 28, 2025!

  Zhang Yi was stunned: he... had been reborn!

  Still in disbelief, Zhang Yi rushed to the living room to turn on the TV, and sure enough, every channel was broadcasting the same news—

  "The world gate of [Apocalypse] will open in 2 hours and 12 minutes. Pyers from around the world, are you ready..."

  He ran to the window, opened it, and saw countless promotional vehicles with [Apocalypse] posters slowly driving by, broadcasting announcements. Passersby were chatting and ughing, all discussing [Apocalypse], and the buildings were adorned with [Apocalypse] posters.

  Only at this moment did Zhang Yi dare to believe: he had indeed been reborn, back from the post-apocalyptic world of [Apocalypse] eight years ter, in 2033, to 2025, precisely on the day [Apocalypse] began!

  In 2025, a rge-scale online game [Apocalypse], developed by the renowned domestic game company [Tianyun Group] in colboration with over a hundred listed game companies worldwide, involving thousands of top game designers and costing 30 billion RMB over five years, officially announced its open beta.

  Breaking traditional gaming norms, [Apocalypse] reportedly allowed pyers to enter the game world with special equipment, experiencing 100% virtual reality and thrilling game scenes!

  Moreover, [Tianyun Group] announced that in-game currency could be exchanged for RMB!

  With these features, since the announcement of the open beta in May 2025, [Tianyun Group] had ignited a global frenzy.

  However, what no one expected was that the game they dreamed of, about to undergo a global simultaneous open beta, would bring a global apocalyptic disaster!

  Zhang Yi recalled his previous life.

  On August 28, 2025, today, after the open beta of [Apocalypse], all pyers who entered the game encountered a common issue: they couldn't log out and could only stay in the game forever.

  No one knew how this happened, only that dying in the game meant real death.

  Humanity faced doomsday.

  Don't think avoiding the game would spare you from this disaster; those who didn't enter the game were the first to perish.

  The first to discover this was a pyer who, while completing a task in the game, found an NPC identical to a friend in reality. Not only that, almost all NPCs in the game were modeled after real people who hadn't entered the game, meaning those people might have been erased by the [Apocalypse] system in reality and then set as NPCs in the game!

  In his previous life, Zhang Yi, as a pyer in the game, survived the post-apocalyptic world of [Apocalypse] for eight years, only to die at the hands of his best friend and the woman he loved most.

  Reborn, Zhang Yi vowed to make that treacherous couple pay for their actions in his previous life!

  Checking the time: 6 PM, only two hours left until [Apocalypse] opened at 8 PM!

  Suddenly remembering something, Zhang Yi, in shorts and slippers, left his room and sprinted to a nearby convenience store: Old Li's Convenience Store!

  In his previous life, before the game opened, several news stories went viral online. Zhang Yi remembered one about a chubby guy in Linhai City who found a Divine Talent Card, one of only ten worldwide issued by [Tianyun Group], inside a cup of instant noodles at an unremarkable Old Li's Convenience Store!